No one is going to get in trouble for doing something new and interesting with Kinect, according to Microsoft's Alex Kipman.

Microsoft isn't mad about all the people using Kinect to make robots and lightsabers. In fact, the company deliberately made it simpler for people to get access to the data that Kinect's cameras and microphones collects in order to make exactly that kind of project easier.

Kipman, Microsoft's head of incubation, said that Kinect was designed for Kinect with an unprotected USB connection. This meant that while anyone wanting to use the peripheral could get access to the data, although they would have to figure out a way to translate that data into something useful on their own. Microsoft wasn't going to take any action against people hooking Kinect up to PC, he said, and added that Microsoft was keen to partner with academic institutes to make sure that researchers had the opportunity to work on projects using the Kinect technology.

At first glance, this supposedly deliberate openness seems to be at odds with the comments the Microsoft made when Kinect was first released, and the idea of open source drivers first came up when Adafruits Industries offered a prize for the first person to get Kinect working with a PC. Microsoft made it very clear that it didn't condone people tampering with its products, and made vaguely threatening comments about how it worked with law enforcement.

Considering Kipman's remark that no one was going to get in trouble for their Kinect projects, it's possible that those comments were due to a miscommunication, as the Adafruits used the phrase reverse engineer. Microsoft may have misinterpreted as "take apart and then make our own version," and so responded more aggressively that it might otherwise have done.

Of course, it's also possible that Microsoft decided that pursuing hobbyists and universities wasn't a good use of resources, and instead trying to score some positive PR off the back of the projects. Either way, it's good news for everyone, as it basically gives a green light to more experimentation.

Well this is not in keeping with traditional Microsoft behavior. Then again as I recall Bill Gates once said "If people are going to pirate software I would rather they Pirate our software." I believe this was in reference to China.

Guess the pouring in of entrepenurial hackers proved a bit too much to just ignore or defame in the end.

Whatever, I salute them, it's a fresh breath of air with Nintendo stomping all over the damn place for literally no reason (no pictures of Pokemon from an ALREADY RELEASED GAME!? What the fuck Nintendo!?)

Megacherv:If they released PS Move drivers now, we could combine the 2 into an unstoppable force!

"A seemingly unending console war, to go down in history as the great 360-PS3 wars... forums were the battleground...only one artifact, forged in the Great Dungeons of the Hackerz could hope to unite the two bitter sides...the Monect..."

Just to play devil's advocate, not believing for a moment that MS 'chose' to make it open so much as 'didn't put effort into closing it', there is a huge gap between making something you can access and making an entire driver interface you then have to support, update, etc.

If it were anyone but MS, I would think the conscious decision to make it open would make extremely good sense, relying on the fans and tinkers to fuel a usage path that nets them nothing but positives.

In a corporation the size of Microsoft their is nothing unusual in different parts having different takes on something. The "incubation" part wants to see what interesting / useful things people can come up with. The other part is worried, probably about someone trying to reproduce the hardware / software and cutting MS out of the loop. It sounds like the "neat new stuff" people won. Be happy...

Just to play devil's advocate, not believing for a moment that MS 'chose' to make it open so much as 'didn't put effort into closing it', there is a huge gap between making something you can access and making an entire driver interface you then have to support, update, etc.

This is true. Especially considering how few people are really interested in buying a Kinect just for their computers. Hell, they're going to have a hard enough time getting a profit from sales to 360 owners! ;)

They'd be daft to say NO! They've come up with something genuinely new and exciting, limiting it to shitty games where you stand on a raft or whatever would just be plain daft.

I'm still waiting until they think of a good use for the little magic box. When I can sit with my controller and use body movements to peer around corners or dodge quickly, voice commands to select weapons or instruct re-enforcements and standing up to immediately pause I'll be in the queue.

If the competition did in fact use the words "reverse engineer" then MSFT letting loose a vague threat was a definite. Simply connecting to the Kinect isn't reversing the hardware though and MSFT are generally ok with someone connecting to their device. Even if it's not official. Where would IE and Windows be if MSFT stuck to only certain hardware. :P

Kinekt will not only appeal to 360 gamers, but by supporting this, they open up new markets that aren't interested in games, but in the technology. Hobbyists and hackers alike wanting to find cool ways to use the Kinekt hardware.